by Dante Doom
“In crude terms, yes,” Ten-Thirty replied. “Although, if you give me a few minutes, I should be able to download a few of these scripts myself. Since I naturally interact with the code, I am capable of interacting with the script without needing access.”
“Does that mean you can summon Virals for us?”
“Yes,” Ten-Thirty said as it began to type furiously on the keyboard. “It means that I will be able to summon the worst of the worst to fight against our foes.”
“Oh, hells yeah! This robot got even cooler when I was away!” Fingers said, clapping his hands.
“I fear that, while I greatly missed Savannah and Timon when they were absent from my presence, I felt a genuine relief when you were gone,” Ten-Thirty replied as it looked at Fingers. “Your jokes do not elicit any form of laughter.”
“Well, my future wife finds me hilarious,” Fingers shot back.
“Your future wife’s laughter is composed of sixty-eight percent pity,” Ten-Thirty said.
“Hey, why are you being so aggressive?” Savannah asked before Fingers could figure out what to say in response.
Footsteps began to echo through the hallway then. It sounded like a few of the King’s men were ready for a fight.
“We are joking, because comedy is based on cruelty,” Ten-Thirty replied as it went back to work.
“No, it’s not! I mean, sometimes, it’s not…” Fingers trailed off. “Well, shoot, I guess most of my favorite humor is pretty cruel. Like, when someone walks into a rake? Hilarious!”
“Can it!” Timon hissed as he peeked outside the door. “We’ve got company coming in hot!”
“Listen up!” shouted one of the King’s lackeys. “We know you’re in there. That equipment is highly volatile and extremely valuable. Don’t think about doing anything stupid. Come on out with your hands up and we will not kill you.”
“Wait, you can destroy this stuff?” Savannah asked.
There was a long pause from the enemy guard.
“No,” he replied. “Now, surrender.”
“Fingers, shoot this place up once Ten-Thirty is finished learning the code,” Savannah said as she pulled out her Arc Rifle. “Are you ready to rock, Timon?”
“My Sniper Rifle’s been feeling a bit antsy lately,” Timon replied as he readied his weapon. “So, let’s give it something fun to do!”
The two leapt out from the door and began blasting away at the King’s loyal soldiers. There were eight of them total, lined up in two rows of four. At the front of the line, two soldiers were wielding big, bulky shields that were similar to the Shield of Fieros, except in that their shields lacked the absorption gems. The shields were able to absorb the blasts of energy from Timon’s gun easily enough, though. And, much to Savannah’s surprise, the word Blocked hovered above the shield that her Arc Rifle’s blast had struck. The gun was supposed to ignore all armor, but maybe these shields were different or Leopold had done something to them. This wasn’t good news.
The eight men, clad in steel armor and huddled behind the cover of their shields, began to return fire. A rainbow of red, green, and yellow energy streaked through the halls, taking aim right at Savannah and Timon. She was able to scramble out of the way, but Timon wasn’t so lucky.
“Ah!” Timon shouted as 300 damage hovered above his head. His armor dropped down to a paltry 450.
“Fall back,” Savannah ordered as she fired a blast from her Arc Rifle, trying to aim through the small space between the two shields. The word Blocked hovered above the shield again.
Timon dropped low and rushed back into the Spawn room. Savannah followed him, taking a single energy bolt to the side of her head as she ran. The words 100 damage hovered above her.
“Well, that didn’t go nearly as well as I had hoped,” Timon wheezed. Fingers and Ten-Thirty were still looking at the console.
“What’s the hold-up?” Fingers asked as he turned to face the two.
“They’ve got these shields that block all of our attacks!” Savannah explained. “I’m not sure how to overcome them. Grenades aren’t going to be much help; they’re way too armored to kill the traditional way.”
“Hmmmm,” Fingers said as he stroked his chin. “I don’t hear them moving, though.”
“Once again, we are ordering you to surrender immediately!” the Captain of the Guard shouted. “Don’t make us come in there!”
Timon looked to Savannah, confusion written on his face. “Why aren’t they rushing us?” he asked.
“Because those shields are the only things keeping them alive…” Savannah mused. “If they come in here, we could ambush them from multiple angles. So, we’ve got to take out those shields somehow.”
“Shields don’t have unlimited health,” Fingers said. “Keep blasting them.”
“Man, I was out there for maybe fifteen seconds and my health was chewed up,” Timon replied. “There’s no way those shields will break before we run out of hit points.”
Savannah looked at Ten-Thirty, who was now standing motionless at the console. Its eyes were rapidly darting back and forth. “Hey, Ten, are you finished yet? We need some more firepower.”
“Negative,” Ten-Thirty replied.
“Sounds like they’re starting to move closer,” Fingers said as he inched nearer to the side of the door. “Slowly, though.”
“Where’s Elanor when you need her?” Savannah groaned. “I’ve got no idea what to do here.”
“The robot’s gonna be learning how to summon Virals, right?” Fingers asked. “So, let’s wait things out until Ten can whip us up a few hundred monsters to fight on our behalf.”
At the same time that Fingers was speaking, a single grenade rolled into the room.
“Get down!” Savannah shouted as she leapt out of the way. A violet wave of energy erupted from the grenade, throwing both Timon and Fingers back against the wall. The word Disoriented hovered above them as they slid to the ground.
The door wasn’t wide enough for the shields to fit through, but Savannah could see the bright blue energy field at the entrance.
“Two are still up!” reported the shield wielder. “Throw another one in.”
Savannah fired at the energy shield, but the word Blocked hovered above it. She could see another guard coming up to the edge of the entrance, too, with a grenade in hand. He couldn’t throw past the shield, however. The guard would have to move the shield a little to create an opening. Savannah took a deep breath, aimed her rifle at the grenade wielder, and waited.
The shield shifted slightly to the right, and before the guard could lob the grenade, Savannah fired off a shot through the tiny hole. The bolt of lightning crashed into the grenadier and the words Killing Blow hovered above his head as he faded away.
“Retreat!” the shield guard shouted as he pulled back.
“There’s plenty more where that came from!” Savannah shouted. That would buy them a few more minutes of time. She wondered why only a few guards had arrived, though. At this point, there should have been swarms of them pouring in.
“Ugh, my head,” Fingers groaned as he stood up and rubbed at his temples. “Man, that was one hell of a grenade. Some high-grade stuff.”
“Everything’s spinning,” Timon grunted as he lay on the floor. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
“You can’t throw up in the game,” Savannah replied as she walked over to help him up.
“Doesn’t change how I feel,” Timon said as he took her hand and slowly got back to his feet. “But you got in one nice shot!”
“Thanks,” Savannah replied. She looked back at Ten-Thirty. “You ready yet? We could really use a Viral to help with those guys out there.”
“I believe I have sufficiently learned enough to summon something,” Ten-Thirty replied. “However, it will be imperfect due to the lack of time you have afforded me.” There was a hint of agitation in the Machina’s voice.
“Sorry for the rush job,” Savannah said. “But those goons are going to be a real pain in o
ur asses if we don’t take care of them right now.”
“Stand back, then; I cannot guarantee your safety,” Ten-Thirty said as it stretched out its hands. Sparks flashed in mid-air as a small portal began to open. The swirling red portal stretched wide, releasing a long, slithering snake of a creature. The word Sercius hovered above it in bright red.
“Nice!” Fingers cheered as the glimmering yellow and reddish serpent slithered across the ground.
The Sercius hissed loudly, but stayed put.
“What’s wrong with it?” Savannah asked. The whole team had backed away from the entrance and huddled against the back walls. “It’s just standing there.”
“Aggro must be drawn for it to act,” Ten-Thirty replied. “I have yet to figure out how to command these Virals.”
“Wait, so you summoned it, but you can’t control it?” Fingers asked. “Then what was the whole point of summoning this thing?”
“You asked me to,” Ten-Thirty said as it crossed its arms. “I apologize if my work isn’t good enough for your constant demands.”
“I like how, the longer you’ve stayed self-aware, the sassier you’ve become,” Savannah said, her eyes remaining on the serpent even as she spoke. “It suits you.”
“Thank you,” Ten-Thirty replied. “Now, all we require is for another grenade to be thrown into the room. That will trigger the Sercius to attack.”
“There’s no way an energy shield is gonna help against this thing,” Savannah chuckled. “We just need to provoke them into fighting us now.”
“I’m on it!” Fingers said as he made his way to the entrance. “If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s pissing people off enough to get them to attack.” Before he could stick his head out, though, a grenade landed right at his feet. “That counted as me helping!” he yelled out right before another violet wave of energy flashed. The energy threw him backwards into Ten-Thirty.
The Sercius immediately began to hiss, and slithered forward into the hallway. The sounds of energy blasts echoed through the corridors.
“What is that thing?” one of the guards shouted.
“What’s a Viral doing in here?” another cried out. The sounds of struggle indicated that it was time for them to move.
“Go, go, go!” Savannah cried out as she and Timon both rushed into the hallway. The Sercius had its jaws around one of the energy shields and was dragging away the guard whose arm was still attached to the shield. The others had broken rank and were shooting at the beast.
“It’s working!” Timon cheered the snake creature as he began to shoot at the remaining soldiers. Savannah managed to kill two before they were able to react.
“Retreat!” the remaining shield guard screamed as he raised his shield high. “Retreat!” The remaining two guards got behind him and they slowly backed away, taking pot shots at the Sercius. The Viral had fully opened its mouth and was in the process of gorging itself upon the shield and the guard who had been holding it.
“Quickly, to the Stats room,” Savannah said. “Fingers, once Ten-Thirty has finished learning everything, destroy it all!”
“Copy that!” Fingers replied.
“Why are we heading to the Stats room?” Timon asked as he followed along after Savannah.
“Elanor might be in trouble,” Savannah explained. They moved past the Sercius and continued running after where the guards had been retreating to.
As they ran through the corridor of doors, they reached one that had been opened. The word Stats was above it.
“Elanor, are you okay?” Savannah asked as she walked into the room, her Arc Rifle raised high. There were dozens of tubes on the walls, each filled with differently colored liquids. Some were green and some were purple, but they were all bubbling. In the center of the room was a long table with cables attached to it. Elanor was standing by one of the tubes in the corner.
“I’m fine,” Elanor replied. She didn’t bother to turn her attention away from the yellowish tube in front of her. “I’m trying to make sense of this room. There are no consoles, no instructions. Only tubes and cables. I figured out that some of the cables attach to the tubes, and when you pull the nozzle at the base here, it releases liquid through the cable.”
“Well, if this is the Stats room, I can only assume that these liquids juice up a character’s stats,” Timon said as he walked around to inspect things further.
“We were hit by some of the King’s guards, but only a few of them,” Savannah said. “We managed to scare them off, but it’s only a matter of time before they come back with reinforcements.”
“Leopold would only send his most loyal men after us,” Elanor replied. “The ones that he trusts implicitly. We won’t be swarmed, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Why only send a few?” Savannah asked.
“Because he knows that we’re opening doors. If one of his less than loyal followers got any ambitions of his own… he would have a lot to work with in here,” Elanor replied. She looked back at the two of them. “Who wants to volunteer for human experimentation?”
“What?” Timon asked.
“If we can figure out how these chemicals work, we can increase our stats to fight against Leopold,” Elanor said. “But it’s going to be trial and error since we don’t have an instruction manual. Any volunteers?”
“I say we ask Fingers to do it; he always seems to be up for new experiences,” Savannah suggested. The other two nodded.
“That sounds good; go retrieve him, Timon. We’ll wait for him here.”
Timon left the room wordlessly, leaving Savannah and Elanor alone. Elanor said nothing and turned her attention back to the chemicals on the wall.
Savannah shifted a bit and sat on the edge of the table, unsure of what to talk about now that she was alone with Elanor. The silence didn’t feel natural, and she was growing more uncomfortable with each passing second.
“So, what’s your plan for defeating Leopold?” Savannah blurted out in an attempt to break the silence.
“I’m not sure. Originally, I had simply planned to become the Queen and usurp him that way, but… my last fight with him didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. I figured we’d get the drop on him here instead of waiting for him to find me, but he seems far more powerful than I had realized. I held back, and apparently he was hiding his power, as well,” Elanor replied as she knelt down to investigate one of the valves at the bases of the tubes.
“I don’t know why he hasn’t attacked us yet… what’s holding him back?” Savannah asked. “A few goons don’t have the power he holds.”
“I suspect his attention is being divided by something, although I could not say what,” Elanor replied. “It isn’t like Leo to wait. But the real question is whether this distraction is in our favor, or his.”
“Who knows?” Savannah replied. “The sooner we can figure out how these stats work, the better.”
“Help!” Timon shouted from down the hall. “The Viral’s got me!”
“Oh great,” Savannah groaned as she leapt up from the table. She rushed out to find Timon being constricted by the Sercius. Elanor hadn’t bothered to follow her.
“What happened?” Savannah yelled out as she fired a shot at the snake. 150 damage hovered above its head, dropping it down from 3,600 to 3,450.
“I don’t know, I went to move past it and the thing attacked,” Timon grunted. “I tried to use my Escape power, but it latched right back onto me.”
“Fingers, get out here!” Savannah yelled. Her voice carried down the hall, but there was no reply.
“Can’t move,” Timon grunted out as the words You are being Constricted hovered above his head.
“Hang in there!” Savannah said as she shot at the snake again. The good news was that the Sercius wasn’t very quick, and it was large enough for her to shoot without a problem. Still, there were more important things to worry about than fighting another Viral right now. “Elanor, could I get some help here?”
Elanor emerged from the Stats door and walked down the hallway. “What is it?”
“We need to kill this thing before it squeezes Timon to death!” Savannah explained. She eyed her Overdrive+ power and prepared to activate it.
“Interesting… how did this get here?” Elanor asked as she leapt atop the back of the serpent. Streaks of electricity rushed from her fingers and the words 100 damage appeared above the snake’s head. It began to thrash about, but Elanor was able to stay on top of it. Each second that passed, more electricity fired from her hands, further agitating the creature.
“Ah!” Timon grunted as the words 200 damage hovered above him, dropping him down to only 250 hit points. “Stop agitating it!”
Elanor leapt off the creature and landed next to Savannah. “How are we going to kill that thing without killing Timon with it?”
“I’ve no idea,” Savanah said. “Timon, how long until your Freedom power refreshes?”
“A minute left,” Timon said. “But it’s starting to crush me again. I don’t think I’ll survive if I just wait for that!”
“Come on, we’ve got to figure something out,” Savannah said as she opened her inventory. There was nothing that would be of assistance for helping another player escape from this Viral, though.
“Well, let’s try to pull it apart,” Elanor said as she rushed over to where Timon was being squeezed. She wrenched her hands in between the snake’s coiled body and began to pry it apart. The Sercius hissed and snapped its jaws at Elanor, but her armor protected her. The words Damage Resistance 100% hovered above her head. “Can’t do it without you, Savannah.”
Savannah moved over and wrapped her arm around the snake’s torso, pulling at it with all of her might. It was fiercely resisting her, but Elanor’s assistance was starting to make an impact. “Almost there,” Savannah wheezed as they managed to pry Timon loose from the snake’s grasp.
“I can move my arms,” Timon shouted out as he climbed out from between the folds of the snake. Savannah grabbed him and helped pull him all the way out.
The Sercius hissed and uncoiled itself, towering high above them now that it was free to stretch its length. It snapped its jaws at Savannah, but she was fast enough to dodge out of the way.
